Making a Defense by Rick WadeIntroductionApologetics has grown into a very involved discipline over the last two millennia. From the beginning, Christians have sought to answer challenges to their claims about Jesus and complaints and questions about how they lived. Those challenges have changed over the years, and apologetics has become a much more sophisticated endeavor than it was in the first century.The Scripture passage most often used to justify apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15: "In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect." This verse is probably used so often because it sounds like marching orders. Other Scriptures show us defense in action; this one tells us to do it.

The word translated "defense" here is apologia which is a term taken from the legal world to refer to the defense a person gave in court. It is one of several words used in Scripture that carry legal connotations. Some others are witness, testify and testimony, evidence, persuade, and accuse.

If you haven't already heard of SBNR, you will. It's one more way that man – created to be in fellowship with God – insists on worshiping a "god" of his own making.SBNR is an acronym for Spiritual But Not Religious. According to Robert Fuller, author of Spiritual, But Not Religious, "It is likely that perhaps one in every five [Americans] … could describe themselves in this way…. Both [spiritual and religious] connote belief in a Higher Power of some kind. Both also imply a desire to connect, or enter into a more intense relationship, with this Higher Power. And, finally, both connote interest in rituals, practices, and daily moral behaviors that foster such a connection or relationship."The major problem is that SBNR people are not connecting with the one true God. In fact, many – if not most of them – are connecting with gods of their own making. In other words, idols.

Evidence continues to mount that Christianity is steadily losing “market share,” in America. According to a Pew Forum study, one in five Americans claim no religious affiliation or preference. Labeled “nones,” this category, along with self-described atheists and agnostics (13%) seems to be increasing while Protestantism is declining. In 1972, 62 percent of the “religiously affiliated” identified with one or more of the protestant groups. By 2010 the figure has dropped to 51 percent.While the nones claim no religious affiliation, 68 percent, including some who identified as atheists, say they believe in a higher power or Being. Half claimed to “feel a deep connection with nature,” and 20 percent claimed to “pray every day.”These nones also come in heavily on the side of strictly secular government, working to establish freedom FROM religion in place of freedom OF religion. They back politicians who see government as the solution to sin instead of regeneration by the Holy Spirit.

At the 2013 Answers Mega Conference, Ken Ham addresses the fact that two-thirds of our children are walking away from the church—as explained in the book Already Gone—and what must be done to avoid losing our children to the evil one.

Yoga and Christianity: Are They Compatible?by Michael GleghornWhat is yoga?For many in the West, yoga is simply a system of physical exercise, a means of strengthening the body, improving flexibility, and even healing or preventing a variety of bodily ailments. But if we inquire into the history and philosophy of yoga we discover that "much more than a system of physical exercise for health, Yoga is . . . [an] ancient path to spiritual growth." It is a path enshrined in much of the sacred literature of India.{1} Thus, if we truly want a better understanding of yoga, we must dig beneath the surface and examine the historical roots of the subject.Before we begin digging, however, we must first understand what the term "yoga" actually means. "According to tradition, 'yoga' means 'union,' the union...of the finite 'jiva' (transitory self) with the infinite'...Brahman' (eternal Self)."{2} "Brahman" is a term often used for the Hindu concept of "God," or Ultimate Reality. It is an impersonal, divine substance that "pervades, envelops, and underlies everything."{3} With this in mind, let's briefly look at three key texts that will help us chart the origin and development of yoga within India.It appears that one can trace both the practice and goal of yoga all the way back to the Upanishads, probably written between 1000-500 B.C.{4} One Upanishad tells us: "Unite the light within you with the light of Brahman."{5} Clearly, then, the goal of yoga (i.e. union with Brahman) is at least as old as the Upanishads.In addition, the word "yoga" often appears in the Bhagavad Gita, a classic Hindu text possibly written as early as the fifth century B.C.{6} In chapter 6, Krishna declares: "Thus joy supreme comes to the Yogi . . . who is one with Brahman, with God."{7}

RESEARCH: CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYERContemplative prayer (also referred to as centering prayer, breath prayer, meditation or listening prayer) is one of the most esteemed spiritual disciplines taught in spiritual formation. In both practice and purpose, contemplative prayer stands in contrast with what Scripture teaches about prayer. Practitioners believe that one must clear the mind of outside concerns so that God’s voice may more easily be heard and that one may be united with the “divine spark” within.Advocates of contemplative prayer believe and teach that it is a necessary practice if one desires to become more like Christ. In claiming this, however, they often appeal to the practices of ancient Roman Catholic mystic monks rather than the Word of God.Contemplative Prayer is a prayer of silence, an experience of God’s presence as the ground in which our being is rooted, the Source from whom our life emerges at every moment…. Contemplative Prayer is the opening of mind and heart – our whole being – to God, the Ultimate Mystery, beyond thoughts, words and emotions. We open our awareness to God whom we know by faith is within us, closer than breathing, closer than thinking, closer than choosing – closer than consciousness itself.1Contemplative prayer, in its simplest form, is prayer in which you still your thoughts and emotions and focus on God Himself. This puts you in a better state to be aware of God’s presence, and it makes you better able to hear God’s voice correcting, guiding, and directing you…. The fundamental idea is simply to enjoy the companionship of God, stilling your own thoughts so you can listen should God choose to speak. For this reason, contemplative prayer is sometimes referred to as ‘the prayer of silence.’2

In the prosperity gospel, also known as the “Word of Faith,” the believer is told to use God, whereas the truth of biblical Christianity is just the opposite—God uses the believer. Word of Faith or prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills. The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit is a Person who enables the believer to do God's will. The prosperity gospel movement closely resembles some of the destructive greed sects that infiltrated the early church. Paul and the other apostles were not accommodating to or conciliatory with the false teachers who propagated such heresy. They identified them as dangerous false teachers and urged Christians to avoid them.

Paul warned Timothy about such men in 1 Timothy 6:5,9-11. These men of “corrupt mind” supposed godliness was a means of gain and their desire for riches was a trap that brought them “into ruin and destruction” (v. 9). The pursuit of wealth is a dangerous path for Christians and one which God warns about: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (v. 10). If riches were a reasonable goal for the godly, Jesus would have pursued it. But He did not, preferring instead to have no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20) and teaching His disciples to do the same. It should also be remembered that the only disciple concerned with wealth was Judas.

PHIL: Hi, I’m Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace To You and I’m in the studio today with John MacArthur, our pastor. And, John, we want to talk today about a series of articles you’ve been writing that we posted on the Grace To You blog. It’s a critique of the current state of religious television and it’s shaping up to be extended expose of charlatans and faith healers who right now are all over the religious networks on television.

Let me just read to you, this is the opening sentence you wrote in the first article on the subject. You said, “Somebody needs to say this plainly. The faith healers and health and wealth preachers who dominate religious television are shameless frauds.”Tell us what happened recently to get you so exercised about this subject and then I want to go through some of the things you’ve written and get you to elaborate for us even more.JOHN: Well, Phil, as you know, back in the end of the summer I faced a surgery to replace my right knee, so I went into surgery. There were some complications that have now been resolved, but it kept me sort of flat on my back and I was months like that, several months, and going through therapy but unable to do my normal duties. So while I was stuck very often watching television, I often couldn’t get into a configuration where I could read a book and take notes, which I like to do, so I wound up watching Christian television and I was continually horrified. And my anger over what I was seeing escalated day after day, after day and eventually I had more pain in my brain than I had in my knee. And it was that kind of pain that caused me to come to you and say, “Look, this is going on every day and maybe we didn’t know this, maybe we didn’t understand this but it is absolutely everywhere on Christian television. I guess the common name for this is The Prosperity Gospel. It’s the...the sale’s pitch is, “You give me your money...me the evangelist, me the preacher...and you’ll get rich.” And the truth is, you give him your money and you’ll get poor and he’ll get really rich. And it’s a Ponzi scheme and I saw it everywhere and no critique of it, no analysis of it, no evaluation, no exposure, to expose of it at all. It’s as if it’s benign when in fact it’s toxic and deadly. And even from the standpoint of the world, the average non-Christian that would turn that on...that is a good reason not to buy into Christianity. That is maybe the best reason.If I was a non-Christian, I would say, “That is so obviously a scam, that is so obviously phony, why would anybody have anything to do with that? It is so counterproductive to the proclamation of the true gospel.So, you’ve got the charlatans, the frauds, people who literally divest the weak, the poor, the sick, the desperate of their money to make them rich and do it in the name of Jesus.PHIL: So it not only corrupts the gospel, it inoculates people against the true gospel.